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This course is only available to trainees days after purchase.
It would need to be repurchased by the trainee if not completed in the allotted time period.
This course is no longer available.
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Description

Safe vaccine storage and handling is essential to ensure that the 'cold chain' that refrigerates the vaccine at a temperature between +2°C and +8°C is maintained from manufacture, through delivery and storage, to patient administration. This learning module considers the available literature on vaccine storage and handling. Although the UK provides significant guidance on the topic, global resources can increase understanding of areas that are not particularly clear for the practitioner undertaking cold chain management. It is hoped that nurses will appreciate the importance of this subject not only within their own practice, but also on a global scale. The module aims to increase readers' confidence to review and enhance, or if necessary develop, a vaccine storage and handling protocol, thus ensuring the highest standard of care in this area.

Objectives

In the UK, vaccination programmes are undertaken predominantly in primary care although many vaccines are also administered in occupational health (private companies and NHS secondary care), private travel clinics, school and military settings. Vaccines and many medications such as insulin and chemotherapy require storage in the ‘cold chain’, which in this case involves maintaining a temperature range of between +2°C and +8°C. Therefore, the topic of cold chain storage is wide-reaching and important in vaccine management.

This module focuses on vaccine storage and handling in the healthcare setting, with minimal reference to ordering and disposal of vaccines. However, resources will also direct the reader to further information and perhaps evoke greater consideration for more unusual settings such as the home or travel abroad.